The North Carolina General Assembly is considering funding a private nonprofit organization called NCInnovation to invest taxpayer dollars in risky for-profit startups. The state House of Representatives initially proposed giving the group $50 million. The state Senate, feeling flush and generous with the taxpayers’ money, thinks $1.4 billion would be better. That’s billion, with a...
This week, President Biden chose to kick off his Invest in America tour in Durham, North Carolina, stopping at Wolfspeed, a semiconductor facility that will focus on the electric vehicle market. Wolfspeed will receive around $1 billion in state and local grants, as well as direct appropriation funds from the General Assembly. It also announced...
The state of North Carolina has been in the liquor business for almost 80 years, ever since it established the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission in 1937. Lately, local governments around North Carolina have bellied up to the bar to get a taste of this booming market. It’s also gone down easy for county boards, who...
The first week of January, Triangle Business Journal ran a story with the headline, “Raleigh Convention Center director wants to double its size.” In it, Doug Grissom, director of the Raleigh Convention Center, said there was more demand than the center could meet and that he’d like to double the space available for events. “We’d...
Advocates miss the mark when they contend that renewable energy offers a one-for-one trade-off for traditional energy sources.
If 117 government programs aren't enough to save the renewable energy industry in North Carolina, perhaps a 118th will do the trick.
The public is better served when spending is clearly spelled out in annual budget documents, where it can be evaluated against alternative uses of the dollar.
Those pushing renewable energy subsidies in North Carolina are using the same faulty logic that propped up the president's failed stimulus plan.
Raleigh politicians learned nothing after subsidizing the failed Mint restaurant in downtown.
Sell the state-owned North Carolina Railroad to the highest bidder. Use the proceeds to pay down state debt and invest in roads and bridges.
What Biden’s visit to Cree was meant to convey, in part, was this: if businesses play ball with us and conform to our political preferences, they’ll make money.
